Does regularly playing DH significantly impact a player's hitting?

AP File PhotoIf the Detroit Tigers ultimately have to move Miguel Cabrera to designated hitter because of poor defense, you shouldn't worry that his stats will suddenly plummet like Adam Dunn's did a year ago.

Although Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland has said he's committed to Miguel Cabrera at third base, the popular opinion is if Cabrera is a disaster in the field the the team can simply move him to designated hitter.

But with that potential transition there is a concern that a hitter's statistics suffer when they are the primary DH. Look no further than recent comments from Tigers outfielder Delmon Young when asked if he would be opposed to taking on the team's full-time role.

"Adam (Dunn) wasn't used to it last year and struggled because all your concentration is on hitting -- it makes it really tough," Young said. "When you go out on the field, you stay in a better rhythm.

"When you're stuck there sitting and then you go and hit, guys don't really like it."

We've heard similar statements from pundits -- that playing in the field establishes a rhythm that translates to the plate -- but is it really true?

I did some research and found that there were 15 players in the American League that racked up 100 plate appearances as a designated hitter last season. To compare hitting statistics, we needed players that also occasionally played in the field. That eliminated players such as Vladimir Guerrero and Jim Thome.

If we only look at players who had at least 100 plate appearances as both the designated hitter and while playing any defensive position, we're left with nine players -- Victor Martinez, Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kubel, Michael Young, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko and Josh Willingham.

Here's the quick and short of three hours worth of data analysis:

In a combined 2807 plate appearances as designated hitters, the group hit .273 with a .350 on base percentage and .425 slugging percentage.

In 2,334 plate appearances while playing in the field, the splits were .277/.348/.443.

The group actually struck out less frequently (17.1 percent of plate appearances vs. 18.5 percent) playing DH.

Essentially, the differences in hitting statistics between playing in the field or serving as DH are negligible, at least within the small sample size of last season.

It's worth noting different players react differently to the role.

For example, Texas' Michael Young is a superior hitter when playing in the field. As a designated hitter last season Young had .312/.359/.462 splits in 301 plate appearances. When in the field, those figures spiked to .325/.397/.483.

Dunn, on the other hand, actually performed better (although still awful) as a DH with a batting average more than 50 points higher and a slugging percentage more than 100 points better.

Basically, it appears it's not the role of designated hitter that impacts the player, but the comfort level of the player within the role.